Payments by Amazon

Last week I watched a webinar about “Payments by Amazon” – I must say, once again I’m impressed by their service.

Here’s a short tutorial on the Payment service.

What is Check-Out or Payments by Amazon?

Much like PayPal – Payments by Amazon is a payment gateway between the online seller and the customer. It allows a customer to conduct a payment using the same account they have set-up as an Amazon customer. This doesn’t mean that you must use an Amazon store or the Amazon site. You can put the payment link on your independent website.

How can it help your business to have another payment option?

There are several advantages of offering more than one service. This is especially true if you don’t have to pay a monthly service fee for them. By having more than one payment option your customer can decide which method they prefer. Now side by side you can offer PayPal, Google Check-out and Amazon Payments as their choice. Many consumers dislike PayPal and will do just about anything to avoid it – and still, other non-PayPal savvy buyers think you must set up an Account and assume they can’t use their Credit Cards using PayPal. I like Google check-out, but know many buyers are still new to it.

As Jeff Pandolfo Amazon Business Development Manager puts it you can “leverage the Amazon retail experience.”

With Payments by Amazon – if a customer has purchased from Amazon (and Amazon has millions of customers) they are familiar with the payment process. In addition, the customer may prefer the Amazon ‘one click check-out’ for its convenience.

Another aspect of having more than one payment option helping your customer’ book keeping. I know personally, that while I have a business and a personal PayPal account – if I had the option – I’d choose the Amazon checkout. Using Amazon I don’t have to go through all the extra hassle of logging out of my business account and into my personal one.

Using Payments by Amazon also helps build trust between your site and the customer. Amazon is a familiar interface and payments through the service are protected under the Amazon A to Z guarantee.

Amazon has a suite of tools to help you manage the payment process including:

• Setting up shipping charges, per zone, per product – fully customizable (PayPal gives you limited shipping set-up).
• You can set up promotions – and use promotion codes (none offered by PayPal)
• Sales tax per zip code (this is a big issue for me as my state collects tax based on destination)
• Easy refund, cancellations and charge back capability

These functions are set up through Seller Central, or for more advanced user through their own payment platform.

Other features include an ‘up sell’ feature that cross promotes your other products as the customer is going through the payment process. Most shopping cart features take the customer off site to complete the checkout, but by using Amazons check-out you can display products from your catalog.

Here’s the really nice part – if you don’t have an up sell for your product, that’s OK. You can add similar Amazon products and receive an affiliate commission when a purchase is made.

The customer’s money is deposited into your Amazon seller account as soon as you mark the item as shipped. Unlike PayPal where you must go into the account and toggle the payment transfer, Amazon payments are sent direct deposit to your account on file.

How much does it cost to use?

No monthly fees, you only pay when customer uses the service. Here’s the breakdown:

If monthly receipts are: % of transaction Per transaction

• Under $3,000 2.9% .30
• $3,000 to $10,000 2.5% .30
• $10,000 to 100,000 2.2% .30
• $100,000 –plus 1.9% .30

Here’s the sweet part for sellers who have smaller value items for sale. Amazon lowers the fees on items under $10.00 – the fees for under ten is 5% plus .05 cents per transaction.

As an online seller using Payments by Amazon is certainly worth looking into. Their prices are competitive, services robust and using the familiar Amazon brand will build your customers confidence.

PS: Did I mention that it’s compatible with Fulfillment by Amazon? It is!

More information can be found at: https://payments.amazon.com